


Love Bites

by notwest



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Earth C (Homestuck), Fluff and Smut, Light Angst, M/M, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 03:15:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14662163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notwest/pseuds/notwest
Summary: What if hickeys were the first mark on Dave's body he liked?Tears pricked at the edges of his eyes and he squeezed them shut, hard. This was so stupid. One of these things is not like the other, Dave. The hundreds of thin lines, like someone had once played tic tac toe with a switch blade on his skin, those weren’t Dave’s scars. But he thought he could own these new ones. The ones with a soft beauty to their feathered edges, and a gentle warmth in the way they wrapped lovingly around him.





	Love Bites

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hummingbirdbandit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hummingbirdbandit/gifts).



> Spawned from a discussion on the Karkat Thirst Server, and jammed thusly.
> 
> Editing shout out to 27teacups!

Dave was aware of the soft, dreamy feeling of Karkat kissing lightly into his skin. He lay in bed, his mind not yet ready to join the waking world but indeed very willing for Karkat to continue his ministrations. Karkat had just been at Dave’s neck and now moved down, his hair tickling Dave’s chest as he stamped gentle kisses along his body. He was mumbling something Dave couldn’t make out that moment, still blissfully straddling the line between dreamland and consciousness.

Not much existed to Dave except the warmth and soft wet presses of Karkat’s lips. A lazy heat sparked up in his belly as Karkat moved downward, but he was far from being equipped or willing to chase the feeling. Rather, slumber tugged him closer again. When Karkat looked up at him from a spot down by his legs, there was a pleading look in his eyes that Dave didn’t quite understand. Whatever it is, he must feel really guilty about it, he thought briefly, before the soft web of sleep captured him once more.

When Dave blinked awake again Karkat was fully dressed, kissing him goodbye and running out the door, mug of coffee sloshing in one hand and a half-eaten muffin in the other, saying something about a council meeting. He lay in bed for a good while after that. There wasn’t much to do today, after all. In the end, it was his rumbling stomach that finally won the argument for a stretch. Dave dragged himself out of bed, taking idle note of some soreness he felt, particularly in his legs and back. Shuffling over to the bedroom door, he caught a glimpse of himself in the full length mirror and froze.

Bruises.

Bruises were plotted all over Dave’s skin like a connect the dots puzzle, and the hazy memory of Karkat kissing all over his skin that morning with a look that said _I’m sorry_ became a lot clearer, now. He ran his hand over the base of his neck, where the first bruise lingered just above his collarbone. His eyes fixated on the mark, just about the size and flush reddish purple of a ripe summer fig.

Dave stepped closer to the mirror with the same caution he might have used while approaching a wild animal. The hickey, because well, that’s what it was, was so different from the marks he was accustomed to seeing on his body. The marks he could still see; some only in the right light, the raised lines of others written in white ink on his skin. Still others stood out in bold and ugly bands, knotted pink and still there, after all this time.

\---

_“Is this okay?” Karkat asks. Dave nods, baring his neck like he wants to break it clean off. His back arches off the bed as Karkat sucks the delicate skin in sharp pleasurable pulses that reverberate all the way through his body. Dave gasps, and Karkat grips both of his wrists to pin him to the bed as he continues to attack Dave’s neck with his lips and tongue. His teeth drag lightly over the same spot, making Dave’s eyelids flutter and his breath catch. Dave jerks his hips up needily and Karkat chuckles and presses into him. When he looks down again, Karkat’s eyes are flashing fire._

\---

Dave’s eyes slid over the rest of his naked body, slowly taking in the marks while he tried to make sense of the weird churning feeling growing in his stomach. He turned slightly, letting his fingers ghost over the lines of bruises that marked his hips in the exact shape of Karkat’s fingers. He knew Karkat would never hurt him, not on purpose, not ever. Guilt flared through him at the fact that he even had to reassure himself of that at all.

Tears pricked at the edges of his eyes and he squeezed them shut, hard. This was so stupid. One of these things is not like the other, Dave. The hundreds of thin lines, like someone had once played tic tac toe with a switch blade on his skin, those weren’t Dave’s scars. But he thought he could own these new ones. The ones with a soft beauty to their feathered edges, and a gentle warmth in the way they wrapped lovingly around him.

\---

_This is so different from how things usually go. Karkat has only ever been maddeningly careful and eternally patient, saying that he has to keep in control so he doesn’t do anything to accidentally hurt Dave. But tonight he moves with urgency. It’s different, but it feels so much better than Dave could have imagined. Karkat digs his fingers into Dave’s hips as he pushes slickly into him, the tips of his claws pricking into the soft skin there. Dave sucks in a sharp breath, feeling heat unfurl within him like a plume. Karkat’s head jerks up and Dave nods at him quickly, breathing hard. “I’m good.”_

\---

Moving images from the previous night flicked through Dave’s mind as he fingered the bruised spots more daringly. Every one told a story, and he lost himself in the memories of Karkat’s face twisted with pleasure over him, the feeling of his hot mouth working on tender skin. He pressed a little harder into one on his chest that was the size and color of a cherry, and his toes curled against the floor as a small jolt went through his body.

Woah.

That was sure something that just happened. Dismissing it as a flinch, Dave turned to examine his back, his mouth immediately falling agape at the sight. Holy shit. His ass was positively _littered_ with marks. A healthy scattering of finger shaped bruises, scratches and love bites adorned the curves of his cheeks. Ironically, this was the one area of his body that had previously been almost clear of any blemishes. A small smile touched the corners of his mouth. It was hard to ignore the way his face was suddenly hot.

Dave’s left shoulder featured a perfect imprint of Karkat’s mouth. He ran a finger around the perimeter of the angry red and inflamed ring, puncture marks indicating where Karkat’s fangs had broken through the skin. On impulse, he pushed two fingers into the mark, hard. It stung, which Dave expected, but there was also another jolt of heat Dave recognized this time as it headed straight to his crotch. Double woah. Standing in front of a mirror as he was, Dave was faced with very real evidence of exactly how he felt about these marks. A flush was creeping down his neck and he sighed, dragging his fingernails across his chest and reveling in the sparks that danced in their wake, signaling his arousal.

\---

_Dave finds it hard to have a coherent thought when Karkat is hot at his back, claws dragging down his skin and hips snapping repeatedly against him as he works his bulge up into a place inside Dave where no man has gone before. Though if he could have one coherent thought it might be, holy shit, this is so fucking hot. “Good… so good, don’t stop… Karkat— fuck!” is what he does get out between thrusts, because if he don’t keep reassuring Karkat he will stop and Dave would actually die._

_He’s long since lost use of his arms to hold himself up and clenches helplessly at the bedsheets as he’s taken again and again. When Karkat comes he clamps down hard on Dave’s shoulder with his mouth, slamming into him erratically while Dave shakes under him, overwhelmed by pleasure. Dave cries out when he loses himself, the contrasting sharp pain of the fanged bite making the pleasure rolling through him that much more delicious, like sea salt on a caramel._

\---

Dave marvelled in the fact that for once, looking at his body wasn’t making him feel like shit. He felt… good, actually. Really good. He smiled, struck by a strong feeling of giddiness as he ran his hands lightly over the beautiful marks and bruises that Karkat left on him. That Karkat left _for_ him. A small giggle found its way out of his mouth, followed immediately by another. They bubbled and merged with each other in his chest, building in intensity until he was laughing so hard he was gasping for breath and gripping the frame of the mirror, half hard and nearly hysterical.

The front door unlatched then, and Dave could hear Karkat calling out and the unmistakable shuffle of his footsteps headed toward the bedroom, but he just couldn’t stop laughing. There were tears streaming down his face and he was doubled over now, wheezing uncontrollably.

Karkat’s voice rang down the hall, the amount of concern in his voice sobering. “Dave! Are you okay?”

Karkat arrived in the doorway and Dave managed to straighten up slightly just in time to see him look Dave's body up and down, and the subsequent way his face morphed from a look of worry and confusion to one of guilt and outright horror. Karkat rushed forward, his hands stretched toward Dave but then stopped himself with a hard, anguished look, his arms snapping back to his sides like a retractable tape measure.

"Hey, I'm fine dude, didn't mean to freak you out at all," Dave said, reaching a hand up to wipe the tears from his eyes.

Karkat's eyes were still roaming Dave's body, wide and frantic. "Fuck, Dave, I'm so sorry!"

Dave crossed over to Karkat and put his arms on his shoulders, desperate to comfort him. He looked so distressed and for a second Dave wasn't even sure why. Then it clicked. "Oh shit, are you worried you hurt me?"

Karkat sucked in a sharp, agitated breath, looking away. "I did hurt you! Jesus, I’m a fucking piece of shit and I should have kept myself under control, fuck!"

"I told you it was okay."

"I _bit_ you!"

"I was literally begging you to keep going!"

"I should have stopped! I've seen the way you look at yourself and I know you hate your scars and I _still_ kept at it, knowing I was marking you, but like a self-indulgent fuck I just kept going—"

"Hey," Dave interrupted, gently taking the work bag off Karkat's shoulders, setting it down on the floor and wrapping his arms tightly around Karkat's waist. He nestled his lips up to Karkat's ear and felt him shudder lightly in response. "Did you like it?"

After a few seconds, Karkat nodded almost imperceptibly and opened his mouth, presumably to say some more self blaming hatey bullshit, but Dave cut him off immediately.

"Well this just in, there’s some real fucking breaking news hitting the headlines this lovely morning at the Daily Dave and it looks like the scoop hot off the press is that if it’s gonna get my boyfriend's rocks off then you better believe I want in on it. Plus,” he adds, “It was hot for me too."

Karkat hiccupped, his arms still hanging limply by his sides, and Dave pulled his head back slightly to see red tinted tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "Oh, shoosh," Dave cooed, sliding fingers into Karkat’s hair and tracing gently around his horns. He felt arms rise slowly and circle around his middle. "I loved it,” he said softly. “I love the marks you left on me. They make me feel good. They remind me that you love me. And that I love you."

Karkat was sobbing fully now, shaking and digging his face into Dave’s shoulder. Dave continued to pet at his horns with one hand, using the other to paw at the tears welling up in his own eyes. They stayed like that for a while. Until the thought of them clinging to each other and crying with Karkat fully dressed and Dave standing naked as the day he crawled out of a puddle of slime suddenly struck Dave as hilarious and he started to laugh, startling Karkat, who scowled and tried to push him away.

“Why the fuck are you laughing?”

“It’s nothing,” Dave said, hugging himself tighter to Karkat and trying to get a handle on his giggles before they became hysterical again. “Actually, wait, why are you even here?”

Karkat crossed his arms, his expression darkening. “I forgot my notes.”

"Well, since you’re already late, do you wanna go get brunch?" Dave asked, remembering that he was still hungry and getting a long, loud sigh in response. Which he knew was basically Karkat's version of yes.

"Okay. Let me get dressed. Gotta look fly for some eggs." He released Karkat and went over to the dresser. Rifling through his clothes, his eyes came to a halt on a shirt he normally never wore; it was a black tank top with a smuppet print on the front that he got as a present from Dirk once. It had lain pristine and unworn ever since, shoved to the bottom of his drawer because it showed way more of his skin than he was comfortable having on display, even to himself. He pulled it out and after a moment’s contemplation, slipped it over his head. He also quickly tugged on a pair of boxers and pants in record time, wincing a little at the soreness in his legs, and spun back around to Karkat. He threw one of his arms out, wrist bent downward in offering, and waggled his eyebrows. “Daddy like?”

Karkat rolled his eyes but Dave could see the hint of a smile peeking through his surly pout. “You look like a moron. Let’s go.”

Karkat turned and started through the hallway but Dave held back, giving himself one last look in the mirror. He focused on the marks, new and old, that filled the skin around his neck, arms and upper back, all very visible in the tank top.

“Dave!”

His heart missed a beat. He wasn’t sure if it was out of excitement or nerves. Probably both. _This is your body to mark_ , he told himself, meeting his own eyes with a delirious grin before turning and skipping into a run down the hall after Karkat.

**Author's Note:**

> kick it with me at [davekatprompts.tumblr.com](http://davekatprompts.tumblr.com)


End file.
